Playdate! (Kiara)

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

It felt like deja-vu, as Vanessa had spent the better part of the morning and the afternoon tidying up and cleaning her apartment. She didn't do the job as meticulously as before, since she assumed that Kiara knew all too well the mess that little ones made. The toys were in their respective boxes, clothes were picked up off the ground and overall, the place was cleaner than what it had been when the Hispanic girl first started.

Now, she was in the kitchen, pulling a tray of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. They were a safe choice, popular with the kids and adults, and there were no nuts. Just in case of allergies. Was Vanessa overthinking the visit? Most likely, yes. She hadn't slept well the night before, as it had been a late night down at the Rochester Inn. Placing the tray on top of the oven, Vanessa shut it off, nervously anticipating her blonde friend's arrival. 

The one advantage of a small apartment was the sightline from the kitchen to the living room. She felt comfortable, seeing Christian sitting upright on the ground, staring at the cartoons on the television. He giggled every so often, clapping his hands together. Vanessa would spend whatever time she had speaking with the boy, hoping to get her son to talk more regularly. He cooed and babbled and had said a few words, like mama, dada, yes and no... but she still felt like her son was too quiet for his age. Oh well. Vanessa let out a worried sigh, running a hand tiredly through her dark locks.

She loosened the cookies from the tray, placing them on a plate next to a fruit platter she had also made. A good balance, right? Vanessa hummed to herself, finishing off last minute details.

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Quite honestly, Vanessa had nothing to worry about. Kiara’s expectations weren’t high, mainly because she knew priorities were to be made when a little kiddo was around. She didn’t want the Hispanic girl to go out of her way. Just something to drink would have done the trick, especially since the blonde had made sure to take Gabriel’s diaper bag with her, in which snacks and fruit had been stored. She couldn’t take it for granted that Vanessa would provide food for all of them, right?

Either way, Ki was glad Jackson had agreed on letting her take care of Gabe that day instead of him going to daycare. Perhaps it wasn’t too much of a difference for the little one, yet it did break the blonde’s week some. It kept her from falling into a routine and from overthinking some things too much. Luckily the apartment could be reached by bus (and minor walking). The blonde mostly relied on public transport or on friends, given she had sold her car, not finding it that necessary while living in Pilot Ridge. It was easy enough to go from one place to the other.

Once they stepped off of the bus, the girl had to orientate herself for a second, but soon enough she was on her way again with Gabe seated on her arm and the diaper dag draped over the other shoulder. It was only a matter of minutes before the right apartment building was spotted and she was inside, going up to the right floor and door.

While Kiara was familiar with them, Gabe wasn’t, so she hoped he would be a happy fella. Knocking the door, she waited and adjusted the little one on her arm.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Vanessa had given her friend directions to the apartment on the outskirts of town, and a brief description of what the building looked like, just in case. She was nervous, for some reason, about making a good impression with Kiara and little Gabe. Eyeing the tray of cookies, she swiped one and took a bite. It was still warm, and gooey, and everything a cookie should be. Approved. Vanessa hummed as she walked over to Christian, splitting hers in half and giving the little boy the other. He took a small bite, a bit of chocolate getting on his lip.

"You messy little thing you." Vanessa chuckled, gently wiping the spot with her thumb with a wide smile. Usually, instead of cleaning, the young mother would have spent the morning reading and playing with her son, but figured that he could use the company of someone close to his age and Vanessa always welcomed the idea of having her own friends as well. She didn't have many, save for a few friendly acquaintances at the Inn.

Hearing someone knock at the door, Vanessa knew it had to be the friendly blonde girl. Kai knew that she had organized the playdate, and nobody else was a consistent regular in her life to come by the apartment. She took the few necessary steps towards the door, and opened it eagerly. "Hey, glad you were able to find it." She joked, stepping back to allow Kiara in. "Welcome to my little home, make yourself comfortable. Can I offer you anything to drink?" Her nerves began to show, as she rattled off conversation. Vanessa's eyes landed on the little one in her arms, smiling. "He's a cutie." With that, she waved to him.

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Features lit up the second Vanessa opened the door, despite the fact that Kiara could feel Gabe’s small hands tighten their grip on the fabric of her jacket. Her own fingers reassuringly spread on the little one’s back as a greeting slipped past her lips. Then the blonde carefully stepped inside and was just barely turned around again to face the dark-haired woman as rambling filled the apartment (with the music of a kid’s program on the background). “Some water would be fine,” she replied before slowly hunching down to get Gabe off of her arm.

His eyes had never left the stranger, and the second Vanessa gave him a wave, short arms snaked around Ki’s neck in a shy manner as he also seemed to shield his face away some. It made her give him a loving embrace while chuckling, only to try and part seconds later. “Come on, buddy, don’t be shy.” The moment Kiara rose again, Gabriel held onto her legs and it made the girl shoot Vanessa an almost apologetic smile. “You might want to enjoy this quiet moment though,” she spoke jokingly to her friend. Gabe wasn’t a loud kid compared to many others.

“Want to meet a new friend?” Kiara mused down at the toddler while gently placing a hand on the back of his head in an attempt to get him moving. The safest assumption as to move towards the television, especially since the blonde had caught a little glimpse of Christian by now. Her reaction to the child was almost identical to the one Vanessa had given Gabe – a little wave and a soft greeting by name. Perhaps he still remembered her?

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Vanessa's grin didn't falter as the little one hid away from sight. She let out a small chuckle. Gabe seemed quite the opposite from Christian, as her own son loved the spotlight and any form of attention. "Sure thing." She replied, going to the kitchen and grabbing a couple of glasses of water, one for herself and one for Kiara. With the glasses in hand, Vanessa came back to see Gabe holding onto Ki's leg as if for life, causing her to laugh again. "Who knows, maybe he'll be a good influence on Christian." Her son was fairly loud and giddy, especially in the presence of company.

By now, Christian was aware that there were new people in the room. Well, sort of. He didn't recognize the boy, but the familiar blonde waves made him point in recognition. Grinning, he bounced around in place and giving a wave with a couple of unintelligible words. His eyes landed on the boy, and since he was curious, Christian began crawling towards the new friend.

As all this was happening, Vanessa watched with a careful eye, setting down the two glasses on the coffee table. She hoped that Christian would behave himself, as this was his first outing with someone close in age, minus his younger relatives back in Texas. It didn't surprise her to see her son make the first move towards Gabe and Kiara. "Thanks again for coming over. I could use the company." She said with a genuine smile.

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Gabriel wasn’t necessarily a quiet child. He just needed some time to adjust to new surroundings and people. So when Vanessa made the remark of him possibly being a good influence on her son, it made the blonde chuckle. “Or the other way around”, she mused. Both of them getting to know each other might be a good thing for once they attended kindergarten: a friend would have been made already and perhaps it could ease the transition. Of course that was still down the road, but it wasn’t out of character for Ki to reason like that.

When Christian crawled over, the young woman squatted down next to Gabe to ‘experience it with him’ and hopefully to offer some comfort. “Hey there”, she smiled before turning her gaze to her ex-boyfriend’s son who seemed to be eyeing the other toddler with some suspicion. Kiara knew she couldn’t force them to play together, so her approach was to distract Gabriel. “Want to play? Look at all the toys.” A hand motioned over to where she had spotted some. “Oh, and a ball!” The almost-two-year old loved those. And while he appeared reluctant at first, still not certain what to think of the other child, he did wobble over to where the round item lay.

It brought a smile to Kiara’s lips as she rose again, briefly turning her focus to Vanessa. “Thank you for having us.” For a moment she paused, following Gabriel with her eyes as he came back over with the ball in his hands. “I think it will be nice for Gabe to make a friend.” Taking the toy from him as he held it up, she carefully rolled it away again – wondering just how long it might take before Christian would go after it as well.

Either way, she moved over to the couch and took a seat, very well aware she wouldn’t have much of this day if she were to keep a constant worried eye on the little one. “How is settling in working out for you?” It might have been a month or two by now, but Kiara figured it was worth asking. “The apartment is nice”, she decided to add.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Looking over at Christian, Vanessa chuckled at the thought of him being a good influence. He was loud; maybe not so much right now, but he definitely had his moments of shouting at everything and everyone. "Guess we'll find out." She said with a teeth bearing grin. At least, she hoped the two boys would get along well enough to become friends. Social interactions were important at a young age, and since Christian had no siblings, Vanessa wanted to give as much as she possibly could.

Christian eventually stopped a couple feet away from Gabe, looking over at him with the same, wide eyed curious expression. There were toys scattered across the tiny living room, and he picked up one of the toy dump trucks that Kai had recently bought for him. He wheeled it around, making bubbling noises until he realized that the blonde lady and the other boy were playing with the red ball. The red ball! Immediately, he let go of the dump truck and began crawling closer towards everyone else.

"It's my pleasure." Vanessa said, smiling, nodding in agreement with Kiara. "I hope the two boys like each other enough to be friends." Generally, kids seemed to be pretty agreeable to one another. She watched as her friend played with Gabe, seeing Christian crawl over to join in on the fun. It didn't surprise her, since he always had to get involved with everything. The thought made her snort.

It didn't take long at all; only a couple minutes had passed before Christian decided to start chasing after the ball on all fours.

Taking a sip from her water glass, Vanessa smiled, shrugging a little bit. "It's been alright. I've gotten into a routine now." She said. Like most adults, hers consisted of work, caring for Christian and managing life in general. The Hispanic girl had a small group of friends she could call her own, like Ki and Zach and Kai. "Oh, thank you. It's... modest, that's for sure." Vanessa laughed. "How's life been treating you recently?"

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After having run to the ball, Gabriel picked it up, only to once more suspiciously gaze at Christian as he had crawled over. He stood still, holding the toy high against his upper body before slowly, very slowly, moving in a circle around the other boy. With the object in hands, he wobbled over towards the couch where Kiara was seated, a couple of times glancing over his shoulder in a futile attempt to avoid the other toddler. His attention was on Ki as he placed the ball into her lap, but he clearly had not expected her to wait for Christian to appear in sight as well and to see the toy rolled over to him. That… was so not fair.

“Go on…” Kiara told him with a nod of the head. That was all said to Gabe now, knowing the child would soon enough venture over when no attention was given After that brief moment, blue optics settled on her friend again. “Life… has been quite confusing,” she stated with a lighthearted chuckle. And when Gabriel carefully moved to see where Christian and the red ball had gone, she cast the briefest of glances at him to underline her words. “Jackson returning with him…” As a weak smile graced her lips, Ki looked over at Vanessa once more. “It has kind of has made everything complicated.” She figured that didn’t require a lot of explanation. Surely that was normal when someone disappeared without a word and then returned eight months later while the girl had finally began to put her life on the rails again.

She took a sip from her glass and then kept both hands tightly around it while placing it upon her left upper leg, not sure if it could be placed on the coffee table without something underneath. “Like, I still care for him… But I’m not sure what my heart wants.” Or, rather, who it wanted. During the last couple of months, Kiara had grown fond of her brother’s best friend. It probably was stupid given her being aware it never could nor would end up being something, but the affection was there and it confused her.

“Anyway,” she gave Vanessa an apologetic chuckle. “How about you and Christian’s dad?” Ki didn’t want to bother her with sob stories. She rather turned this around and focused on her friend.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Gabe had beat Christian to the ball. He stared at the older boy, brown eyes focusing in with a curious expression. Did he want to play? He always liked playing! Christian let out small bubbles of laughter, expectantly looking between the ball and Gabe. They were going to play, right? The older boy circled the younger one, as he mirrored his image. Round and round... suddenly, the older boy ran away. This didn't phase Christian as he followed in pursuit. His sat in front of the blonde, clapping in anticipation. Was she going to play too? Everyone should play! "Mama." Christian pointed with a tiny finger. "Baaaaall."

"Yes sweetie, the ball." Vanessa repeated with a soft smile, watching as Ki sent the red sphere rolling. This time, Christian was the first to react and began crawling towards it, as if his life depended on it. He reached the ball, trying to grasp it with his tiny hands.

Vanessa gave her friend a sympathetic look when Ki mentioned that life had been confusing lately. "I'm sorry to hear that." She replied, genuinely meaning what she said. Raising an eyebrow, Vanessa looked between Kiara and Gabe and asked "Is... is he yours?" She couldn't help it; she was curious. Plus, the Hispanic girl figured there was no harm asking since she wasn't in a place to judge as a young mother herself. "I can only imagine how hard it would be having him in your life again after awhile." Kai probably felt the same way, when she came back. A one night stand, turned into parenthood.

"Ahh, the good 'ol heart." Vanessa said with a chuckle. She picked up her own glass, taking a sip before setting it back down on a table. She wasn't a coaster kind of girl. "That's always a difficult place to be in." Emotions and feelings always seemed to mess things up, and Vanessa was grateful she'd never formed some sort of attachment to anyone. "Why'd he leave? if you don't mind me prying." She added on quickly.

Then Ki brought up Kai. She chuckled, playing with a bracelet that he had bought for her the other day. "It's... strange." Vanessa admitted. "It's about balancing between our schedules. I want the father, Kai, part of Christian's life." It was her whole motivation to come back to Pilot Ridge. "We spend some time together catching up, so relatively normal I guess." She said with a shrug.

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Gabriel was used to sharing the attention of the worker at the daycare Jackson took him to, but that did not mean he ever had to share the attention of his father or Kiara with another child. The blonde could tell the toddler was reluctant, tiny hands fumbling with one another against his upper body while he stepped over to Christian. A few feet away from the younger boy, Gabe pointed over at the red ball. “Mine,” he said upon gazing over at the actual ‘owner’ of the toy. Gabriel had it first though! That had to count for something! He just seemed to be standing there, waiting for Christian to abandon or to accidentally let it roll away.

Kiara, in the meanwhile, gave her friend a lighthearted chuckle and a shake of the head as she briefly looked over at the two kids. “No… But sometimes I wish he was.” Blue optics drifted back to Vanessa. “I would have fought for him like a mom.” A weak smile now curled her lips, assuming that a more detailed explanation was in place. “His mother showed up with him two Christmases ago. After a month, she disappeared and left Gabriel with his dad. I… pretty much took on her duties.” The laugh that followed was slightly bitter, thinking back to that time. “He even called me mommy…” But not anymore; too much time had passed, and that actually did hurt. It made having him back in her life very dual.

Glancing down at the glass, Kiara took another sip and then rested it down on her leg again. With her spilling information, she might as well talk about what had gone down ten months ago as well. While fingertips absentmindedly ran over the glass, the blonde replied. “No, you can ask.” And maybe even give her opinion as well. Ki had even asked Father Cupper at the church, but that hadn’t helped too much. “He left to gain custody over Gabe because his mother tried to get him back after abandoning him. Then she claimed to be pregnant of Jackson again…” With a tiny shrug, Ki took a bigger gulp of the drink. Asking about Kai seemed like a nice breather.

At least her friend appeared to have a better grip on it than Ki did though. “Do… Did you ever have feelings for him? Or was Christian the result of a random encounter?” She tried to word it as decently as possible, and hoped it was alright to ask. If not, surely Vanessa would let her know and not answer it.

[Vanessa Rodriguez]

Finally taking the ball into his hands, Christian looked up at the older boy, insisting that the ball was his. A confused look crossed his face, staring down at the sphere in his hands before back up at Gabe. "No." He answered, holding out the ball. "Ball." Of course, that didn't mean Christian wanted to stop playing! He placed it on the ground, hitting it back towards Kiara's direction. She seemed to enjoy playing with them! Mama, not so much. He gleefully crawled back towards his mom and the blonde, chasing the ball again.

"You sure act motherly around him." And it spoke volumes for the type of person that she was. Not many people would be willing to mother someone else's child. "You can still be his mother without... biologically being his mother." Vanessa quieted down as she further explained the situation and role she filled as Gabe's biological mother abandoned him. It made her angry towards the total stranger, but as a mother herself, Vanessa couldn't imagine doing such a thing. "That's terrible." She frowned, shaking her head. The fury inside only grew as her friend revealed that the mother wanted custody and so the father and child left. "Wow." That was a mess. "I can't believe she would try and do that." Vanessa shook her head back and forth again. It must have been a lot to deal with.

The subject of Kai wasn't hard to talk about. If anything, she felt guilty for hiding the secret expanding in her womb. Vanessa's gaze landed on Christian absentmindedly, before back on her blonde friend. A small laugh escaped from her lips. "Ahh... no. At least, no substantial feelings." Was that the polite way of implying her son was the result of a hookup? She always tried to word it carefully due to judgement, but the mother had a feeling Ki wasn't the sort of person to criticize. "And after I found out... I kept it a secret. Which was a mistake. Came back into his life unexpectedly and dropped the news." And possibly ruined a relationship. She thought back to the night at the Inn, dropping the baby bomb on Kai and Zach, wincing at the memory.

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Of course that was a ball! But Gabe wanted it... Christian rolled it back at Kiara though, which immediately seemed to lift his spirit. Short legs worked as fast as they could as the toddler ran over to the couch. Surely she would give him back the ball! She had to! Gabriel almost tripped over his crawling ‘friend’ when he didn’t make a full circle around him, simply wanting to take the shortest path to the toy. Kiara was quick to reach her free hand forward, also succeeding to not spill some wine, to keep him from stumbling forward. It seemed to have taken Gabe aback some though, even if he was the first to reach the couch. An accusatory look shoot at Christian. It was his fault, right?

With a soft chuckle, Kiara retrieved her hand and simply rolled the ball away again, letting them have at it. “Christian is a friend. Go play with him,” she told him before patting his butt gently to get him moving again. A loving look lingered when he wobbled away, blue eyes drifting back to Vanessa. “No,” the blonde replied kind of weakly and sad at the same time. “I am not even sure how this thing with Jackson will work out. If he gets a new girlfriend, how weird would that be…” She shook her head some, briefly looking over at Gabe again as he finally seemed to be warming up to Christian. “I don’t think it would be fair to Gabriel to put him in that situation.” At the same time, however, it did hurt a bit that he didn’t call her ‘mommy’ anymore. And it would sting to see him with a different mother figure.

As for Kai… Well, if this were a year ago, Kiara couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a child with someone who she didn’t have feelings for. The pregnancy scare with Gabriel, her brother’s best friend, had made her realize she wouldn’t have been able to give up the baby though. The lack of feelings back then, however, had kind of made a drastic turn by now. But yeah, no judgment from Kiara – she could easily have ended up in the same situation. “So, um, why did you keep it a secret? Were you afraid that he wouldn’t want him?” Or perhaps that Kai would want shared parenting?

It also stirred another question after the girl look another sip before shuffling back on the couch, figuring the boys could play without the assistance now. “How did he react to finding out he has a son?”